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MEMBER DIARY

Planned Parenthood’s Bad, Bad Night

An untold story today following yesterday’s Pennsylvania primaries is what a bad, bad night it was for Planned Parenthood.

In Pennsylvania’s 134th House district, they spent an eye-popping $100,000 on a TV ad campaign trying to sink the candidacy of Republican Ryan Mackenzie by linking him to ultrasound legislation that was before the legislature.

Most state legislative races and ad campaigns don’t necessarily have any larger resonance, but Democrats have been working to make the ultrasound bill the kind of liability for Republicans in Pennsylvania that a related proposal became for Republicans in Virginia.

That trial balloon popped when MacKenzie cruised to victory by an 18-point margin, 59 percent to 41 percent.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania’s 31st district, former Planned Parenthood CEO and board member, Republican Helen Bosley, lost in the primary to a pro-life Republican woman, Anne Chapman. Thanks to the help of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, abortion played a central role in the race and again, it was no contest. Despite Bosley’s endorsement from the Bucks County Republican Committee, pro-life Chapman won with 63 percent to 37 percent – a commanding 26-point margin.

And on the Democratic side, they didn’t fare much better. In the tightly contested primary between Reps. Jason Altmire and Mark Critz, Altmire relentlessly attacked Critz – in TV commercials, in the mail, and in debates — for voting to defund Planned Parenthood. Altmire went down by four points, despite leading in most polls leading up to last night.